Deptford school board approves action to address overcrowding

The Deptford school board voted Monday night to approve a measure that will change where some of the district’s students go to school in an effort to alleviate overcrowding.

Although this plan avoids the major upheaval of another proposition that was rejected last month, parents and officials both agreed the re-organization will only serve as a temporary solution to a larger problem.

Instead of re-organizing the district’s elementary schools to concentrate all pre-kindergarten classrooms in one building, the board will now take a less drastic approach. Shady Lane School, which currently holds kindergarten through sixth grade, will now only house grades one through six, with future kindergarteners attending Central Early Childhood Center instead.

Two special education classrooms will be moved out of Lake Tract School and be moved either to Good Intent or Oak Valley school, depending on the needs of the individual students. A total of four classrooms in Shady Lane and two classrooms in Lake Tract will be freed up. Shady Lane and Lake Tract will each gain a fifth grade classroom, and Lake Tract will gain a computer room, which is necessary to administer the standardized PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) test.

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Superintendent Gary Loudenslager acknowledged that soon, Deptford will have to come up with a long-term plan to address overcrowding in its public schools. “This is a short-term solution,” he said at the meeting. “We may have to look into expanding, but I truly believe this plan is good for the time.”

Board members supported the plan because it had comparatively little impact on where Deptford’s students will attend school.

“It seems to include the least student movement for us,” said Rachel Green, a board member. Still, she pointed out that the solution was only temporary. “Tonight is only a Band-Aid for a larger problem,” she said.

Board President Joe Wilson said the board had listened to the misgivings of parents who opposed the housing plan struck down last month.

“I think enough was hashed out over the last few weeks that we could find a fair solution,” he said.

Sean Lisk, one of the most vocal opponents of the previous plan, said while he thought the board went with the best option available, he wished the issue had been acknowledged before it became a serious problem.

“You’re putting a Band-Aid on a broken leg,” said Lisk. “This problem should’ve been addressed three or four years ago.”

Linda Rossner, a former teacher and regular face at school board meetings, was glad that at least for the near future, the district was dealing with overcrowding.

“I think it opens up some of the stress in other buildings,” she said, adding that the board would have no choice but to look into a permanent fix. “They have to do it,” said Rossner. “They can’t afford it — nobody can — but it must be done.”

Loudenslager said he intends to pursue a demographic study of Deptford that would help the district better predict how its enrollment will change in the coming years, a move that Assistant Superintendent Carolyn Morehead called “absolutely necessary.”

“We absolutely need to do a demographic study to get some good data as to what the anticipated growth for the district is,” she said. “And we’re going to have some tough decisions to make with the board and the community as to where we go from there.”